Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

A War of Worlds

Chapter: 4

Jeri Katou shifted in her seat as she looked out the window, a small smile on her face as she thought about her old friends. It would be a while yet before the towers of Shinjuku would come into view, but she was now almost there. Soon she would see all the old familiar sights. The park, Guilmon's home…all the old stomping grounds, but most importantly those she left behind. Especially him.

A vision of yellow goggles perched on a head of light brown hair, sitting above a pair of warm, crimson-colored eyes, flashed across her vision and Jeri found herself sighing wistfully. Beside her there was a giggle and at once a weight settled on top of her dark brown hair.

"Whatcha thinkin' about Jeri?" came the voice of a white-furred ball of digimon with wide, green eyes. His ears, which at first had been small expanded suddenly and folded around the girl's head. Jeri giggled.

"Nothing different from what you asked five minutes ago, Calumon," she replied, angling her eyes in an attempt to meet his. Returning her giggle, Calumon stood up.

"Are we there yet?" he asked their driver, Jeri's stepmother, Shizue Katou. The woman looked in the rearview mirror and smiled at the tiny digimon.

"Almost, but it's still going to be a while."

Bouncing off Jeri's head, the tiny creampuff of a digimon rolled onto his back. "How about now?"

"Calumon…" the older woman warned. Jeri laughed lightly.

"I think it was a mistake to feed him all those creampuffs before we left, Mom."

"I know. I should have seen it coming, but it's just too easy to spoil him." She furrowed her brow, glancing in the mirror again. "How did you get out of the car seat?" she asked Calumon. "I thought we had you strapped down this time."

"There's nothing that can keep me down!" Calumon crowed triumphantly, flipping up into the air, his ears expanding again and allowing him to float in midair. Jeri tilted her head to one side questioningly, not for the first time wondering how he was able to do that without ending up being hit by the car seat.

Shizu could only sigh and shake her head.

"Jeri, can you see what you can do to keep him out of trouble? I can't have him distracting me while I'm looking for our exit."

"Sure thing," Jeri nodded, grabbing hold of Calumon and bringing him to rest in her lap. The tiny digimon squirmed a little before settling down…at least for the moment. Retracting his ears, he craned his head around and blinked his large eyes at her.

"So what's the first thing you're going to do when we see the others?" he asked.

"I told you," Jeri said, playfully scowling a little. "We're going to see the others."

"Yeah, but how? When?" He laughed excitedly and kicked his overly large feet in the air. "Who will you see first?"

Jeri took on a look of slight frustration and bit on the inside of her cheek. If I didn't know any better, I could almost swear that he's implying something. Terriermon… Impmon… You two are too much of a bad influence on him…

We'll check the park first," Jeri replied with an air of authority, patting Calumon on the head. "The cherry blossoms are blooming today, so it could be that they're all getting together later. Takato said that he and Rika were meeting up first to go watch them."

Her mind hung onto that particular memory from their conversation for a moment. Takato hadn't mentioned any details, but she had an idea that he hadn't been the one to bring up the subject—not after the last time she hooked him into trying to do so on Rika's birthday. Jeri felt a small smile play along the corners of her lips as she thought about the idea of Rika asking Takato to go cherry blossom watching with her. The boy, by his own admission, did not understand the hearts and minds of girls, and understood Rika's even less. This of course came as no surprise, given how she could be at times, and yet…

Jeri repressed a giggle. I think he understands more than he realizes, she thought, remembering some of the conversations she had with them over the course of the past year since moving, both online and via phone. She didn't talk to them as much as she would like, but when she did that was the sense that she got.

"Rika and Takato are going to watch the cherry blossoms?" Calumon asked, tapping his chin thoughtfully, breaking Jeri out of her train of thought. "But didn't you say that you were going to ask him to go with you?"

Jeri's fingers tightened a little around the little digimon ever so slightly.

"I-I didn't say that it was going to be right away," she emphasized, blushing a little at his inquiries. "I have the whole week. Besides, I can't just butt in while they're together. That…that would be rude."

"I guess." Calumon continued to tap his chin before jumping out of the girl's grasp and landing on the top of her head again. "So do you think Kenta still has that wormmon around his mouth? That must look really silly!"

"Wormmon?" Jeri asked, raising an eyebrow. "What are you…? Oh! Is that what Terriermon calls it?"

Calumon tilted his head to one side in confusion. "What else would it be called?"

"I think the first thing I have to do is tell Henry to keep Terriermon off the computer. I'm starting to regret letting you on to talk to the others as well. What else is he saying?"

Calumon's expression shifted from one of confusion to hesitation. He recognized the look in Jeri's amber-colored eyes. That look of a lion that has discovered something that it doesn't like.

Fortunately for Calumon, his digital life was saved as the radio, which up to this point had been playing a gentle tune in the background, switched to the blaring noise that Jeri found all too eerily familiar this last year.

"Please stand by," came an automated voice. "The National Digimon Detection System based in Hypnos has detected a high level digimon bio-emergence is forming in Shinjuku Park. All citizens are advised to seek shelter immediately."

"Oh no," Jeri whispered as her eyes flittered up to the rearview mirror, meeting her mother's eyes.

###

Rika and Takato watched as the beam drew closer, the two of them trying to calculate just where it was going to land.

"Um…" began Takato as it grew in the sky at an alarming rate, rapidly transforming from a glowing star to an approximation of an oncoming fireball. "…do you think that we should take cover?"

Rika grated her teeth together, starting to think that Takato was right on this one. Before she could respond though, the beam pulsed, flooding the park with an intense light that caused them both to close their eyes suddenly as pain lanced into their vision. A brief, intense heat washed over them and the wind blew, causing the tree branches to sway loudly. Rika heard Guilmon howl briefly before being drowned out by the sound of something huge rushing by them. The light intensified behind her eyelids for half a second before disappearing, taking with it the briefly rising temperature.

"What…was that all about?" Takato said, speaking what was on everyone's mind as they all chanced opening their eyes.

"That could not be a digimon," Renamon said, her icy-blue eyes frowning. Her tail slashed a path through the air, and both Rika and Takato took a moment to note how tense her muscles were.

"Guilmon?" Takato asked, turning to the crimson-dinosaur.

"I don't know Takato," Guilmon replied. He was crouched down, his muscles equally as tense as his vulpine comrade. "It feels like a digimon, but…"

"No digimon has ever bio-emerged like that before," Rika finished for him, raising her blue-trimmed digivice. The holographic compass materialized above its screen, aiming ahead of her. "This is kinda weird…" Dismissing the compass, she looked up in the direction it pointed. They could all see a faint glow vanishing behind the tree line. Clipping her digivice to her belt, she took off in its direction. "Let's go!"

"Ah! Rika!" Takato exclaimed, breaking into a run after her, followed quickly by Guilmon.

"I'm not waiting for Henry," she shot over her shoulder at the boy.

"I wasn't going to say that," frowned Takato, trying to keep pace with her. "But we can't just go charging right on in without knowing what we're getting into!"

Renamon materialized beside the girl, nodding in agreement.

"I'll go on ahead," she said before vanishing into thin air. Rika scowled but kept up her pace regardless. After a few minutes, the light ahead of them began to grow, and the trio slowed down. Withdrawing her digivice, a holographic circle materialized, presenting them with a camera-view of the scene from Renamon's perspective.

"Anything?" Takato asked.

"There's no digital field," the girl replied, angling the digivice so Takato could get a better view. Coming to a stop, they took in the scene. In what appeared to be a clearing was a glowing ball of energy.

"What…is that thing?" Takato asked. "That can't be a digimon."

"I don't know," Rika replied as the scanning function displayed the words No data for them to see.

The Tamer turned toward Guilmon, who was presently sniffing the air.

"I smell digimon…" he said, only for Rika to cut him off with a sharp retort.

"You're just smelling Renamon, Dino-boy."

"Nuh-uh." Guilmon shook his head quickly. "I smell Renamon, but I smell another digimon too. D-Reaper didn't smell like a digimon at all."

Rika pressed her lips together into one thin line, getting a sense of déjà-vu.

"Man," began Takato. "This is almost like when the Deva's appeared."

"Took the words right out of my mouth," she said as Takato shook his head and started forward again. "I don't think we're going to get anything else out of this thing. We might as well…"

Before Rika could even finish her sentence, a massive explosion ripped free from the source of the light ahead of them and a thick fog—a digital field—blew over them. Wood splintered as tree trunks cracked and began to topple forward. Buffered by the blast, Rika and Takato both staggered, trying to retain their balance.

Another shockwave, this time even more powerful than the last one and in the next second the two were thrown off their feet, crashing to the ground. The pair immediately started to get to their feet, but no sooner did they do so that another pulsating blast—one stronger than the last one—struck them, and Takato found his feet start to leave the ground.

"Takato!" Instinctively, the red-haired girl grabbed hold of the teen by the wrist, nearly getting dragged off her own feet along with him, but she managed to keep her footing for the moment, and Takato quickly caught his balance.

Before either of them could catch their breath, there followed a particularly loud crack, and a tree toppled toward them.

"Rock Breaker!" roared Guilmon as he leapt toward the splintering juggernaut.

What happened next was too fast for either Tamer to follow, but both of them felt strong paws grab hold of them by the shoulder, and in the next second, after an ear-splitting explosion, they found themselves barely three feet away from the broken remains of the tree, Renamon kneeling next to them, a gloved arm wrapped around both of them.

"Nice save," breathed Takato, a shaky smile drawing up on his face as Renamon drew back.

"What happened?" asked Rika, brushing broken splinters from her face. Glancing to the side, she saw Guilmon approaching from the broken mess of the tree, looking none the worse for wear.

"The 'egg'," Renamon replied, "for lack of a better description, exploded." She narrowed her eyes and cast her eyes skyward. "Whatever was in it is now here."

"Where?" asked Takato, getting to his feet. Rika, who was already following Renamon's gesture, pointed upward. Seeing this, Takato did likewise. No sooner did he do so, his mouth fell open.

The creature was spidery-like in appearance, with four legs descending from a single, saucer-like head, but was covered in thin, metallic armor. It looked fragile as it towered over them, its head swiveling first this way and then that, taking in its surroundings.

Takato noticed Guilmon get down into a crouch, making a deep, animalistic growl while next to him Renamon's claws curled into tight fists. The goggle-wearing teen had the distinct impression that this creature's appearance was more than a little deceiving.

"Looks like it's show time," Rika said, raising her digivice to the sky, a light beginning to form in its screen. Snatching his own digivice off his belt loop, Takato did likewise, and in one voice they intoned the words that would cast the die of battle.

"Biomerge activate!"

Light exploded from their digivices, enveloping both Tamers and their digimon partners, merging their bodies together. Guilmon's form took on a more humanoid shape, losing his reptilian features and forming plates of white and red metal armor akin to a knight. A crimson cape materialized behind him and a shield and lance formed from his hands.

"Guilmon, biomerge tooo…Gallantmon!"

Cast in azure, almost lunar-like light, Renamon's form grew, and like Guilmon became almost completely human-like in appearance. Her fox tail and fur vanished in a ripple of energy, replacing it with a black body suit, violet boots and gloves, a face-mask resembling a fox, and a golden breastplate with shoulder guards. Long, silvery hair blew behind her, and was tied off at the ends, separating it into two ponytails. A bronze vajra staff materialized in her hands and she swept it around her in one smooth, graceful motion.

"Renamon, biomerge tooo…Sakuyamon!"

Their transformations complete, the light died down around them, and both got into combat positions. The creature, for its part, began to lumber forward, unmindful of the two now Mega-level digimon standing below it.

"We're going to have to contain it before it causes too much damage," Gallantmon spoke in the blended voices of both Takato and Guilmon. Next to him, Sakuyamon nodded.

"I can manage that," Sakuyamon replied, her own voice a combination of both Rika and Renamon's.

"All right. I'll head him off and try to slow him down." With that, they both leapt into the air, Sakuyamon toward the sky and Gallantmon in the path of the monster. Landing in front of it, Gallantmon spun around and readied his lance and shield.

In a burning orange sphere of light inside the mighty knight-like digimon, Takato saw and felt everything through Gallantmon's eyes. In tune with Guilmon's instincts now, he was definitely in agreement that this creature, however strange it was, most definitely was a digimon. What particular species he couldn't place, even with his nigh-encyclopedic knowledge, but that didn't matter right now. All that did was that it needed to be either contained…or destroyed.

"All right," he said, hefting his shield. "Better reason with it first…or at least try and get its attention." Taking aim with his lance, electricity flared around it.

"Lightning Joust!" the knight boomed, and to suit the action to the name, he fired a stream of electricity that narrowly missed the spidery-creature as it continued to stomp forward. As a result, it hesitated and turned its saucer-like head toward him. Gallantmon didn't see whether or not it had eyes, but it was plain that he got its attention.

"Okay!" he began in a loud voice, hoping that the creature could understand him. "Stop right there! Uh… You're under arrest! Anything you say can and will…"

A mechanical tentacle whipped out in front of the creature and fired a beam of orange energy at Gallantmon. Shouting in surprise, he brought his shield up and the blast struck it full force, nearly causing him to topple backward from the impact.

"Wow…" Takato grunted from within his sphere of orange light. "I'd say it has an attitude problem…"

"That was a really powerful attack Takato," came Guilmon's voice from the darkness surrounding Takato's digital sphere. He sounded as though he were straining to talk, almost as though he were hurting. "I don't know how many of those we can take!"

"All right then, let's attack!"

With a powerful battle cry, Gallantmon charged forward and leapt into the air, aiming his lance at the creature's head. The tentacle from where the blast came adjusted its aim and fired again. Once more, Gallantmon adjusted his shield to intercept the blast and he braced himself for the impact that was sure to follow.

The next sensation Takato and Guilmon knew was a searing heat that ripped through the shield like butter before detonating on his chest armor. Pain unlike anything Takato had ever known exploded across his body, and in the next moment he found both himself and Guilmon, no longer joined in their biomerged form of Gallantmon, falling toward the hard asphalt below.

Takato gasped a silent cry in realization, fumbling for his digivice and his deck of modify cards. His fingers, still shaking and his concentration in tatters from the pain that still burned along his nerve endings, clumsily pulled out the deck from his pants pocket, and quickly lost it, sending cards spilling through the air.

"Ah…nuts!" he cursed, snatching at the cards as best he could, yet not catching a single one of them. The ground fast approached him, and he tensed up…

"Gotcha!" Rika's voice cut through the wind that sung past his ears, and two powerful, slim arms wrapped themselves around both the boy and his falling dinosaur companion, bringing them both safely to the ground before either of them could blink.

"You really can't do anything without me, can you?" Sakuyamon scolded in Rika's voice as she set them down.

"Rika!" exclaimed Takato, grabbing his shoulder as pain once more lanced through him—a ghost of the creature's attack. "Be careful. That digimon's attack is strong! It cut through Gallantmon's shield and…"

There was a bright glow of orange as the creature once more took aim and fired.

"Crystal Sphere!" Sakuyamon said, reacting quickly. At once a barrier of energy materialized around them, and the blast ricochet off its surface. Its failure was not without effect though, as Sakuyamon groaned and nearly went down to one knee. The sphere shuddered and flickered as energy crackled along its surface, seething like angry serpents.

"Strong…" she breathed. "Looks like you weren't kidding. You two better find some cover until you can get back on your feet. I'm going to try to…"

Another blast shot out from the creature, followed by another in rapid succession. The first struck the barrier and this time Sakuyamon cried out and this time did go down on one knee. The barrier flickered, vanishing as fire exploded across its surface, and the second shot rushed in at that moment, smashing into Sakuyamon's facemask before exploding.

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